The running joke about Twitter is that it's a great way to stay up to date on what people are having for lunch.
But the micro-blogging service is also one of the best ways to find a free lunch. Or coffee. Or the best discounts on things as varied as groceries, music and travel.
That's because many of the money-saving "tweets" you'll find there have been used and vouched for by other members of the Twitter community. And many of them are exclusive deals that you might have problems finding on the Web.
"It really lowers the barrier of the time you have to spend looking for these (discounts)," says Melissa Massello, the founder and editor of online magazine Shoestring, who has been using Twitter since 2007.
Moreover, because these discounts are being passed along in real time, there's a better chance of getting in on hot deals before they expire or are sold out.
Here's MSN Money's guide to the best ways to use Twitter as a money-saving tool.
Getting started
Once registered, users post updates, known as tweets, of up to 140 characters about what they are doing or what they find interesting. These updates are posted on users' profile pages and pop up on the pages of anyone who is interested and decides to "follow" them. In turn, these users follow the people they are interested in.The idea is to create a crowd of like-minded people so you have a better chance of coming across tips and bargains you are interested in. In addition to friends and relatives, you can find others who share your passions, such as surfing or scrapbooking, your geographic area or your situation, such as "mom" or "single." Certain groups are more likely to pass along deals relevant to your lifestyle.
"I follow a lot of other bloggers with sites similar to mine," says Tara Kuczykowski, a Columbus, Ohio, "mommy blogger" and Twitterer. (On Twitter, she's known as @dealseekingmom.) "We all chat and learn from each other and share ideas for posts that way."
Kuczykowski's recent posts have included alerts on cereal coupons, a free beach umbrella promotion at Rite Aid and a buy-one, get-one-free promotion at Ben & Jerry's ice cream shops.
For deal seekers, there are three sources of information:
- The friends, family and shared-interest acquaintances you acquire on your own.
- People or companies that aggregate Twitter posts for you.
- Companies that offer special deals to their followers.
Follow your 'tweeps'
To find deal-oriented Twitterers, or "tweeps," use basic search terms such as "coupons," "bargains," "frugal" or "saving money," Shoestring's Massello suggests. Then sift through these tweets to find actionable tips and check out profiles to find Twitterers you want to follow.Aligning yourself with others like you has payoffs: Travelers, for example, can find other budget-minded wanderers or travel columnists who will pass along under-the-radar cheap lodging recommendations, such as @BudTravel (Budget Travel magazine) or @frugaltraveler (The New York Times' budget travel writer). Surfers or campers can find advice or recommendations for cheap gear. Your fellow wine lovers will help you find the best bottles under $10.
And if you have a lot of friends and followers, don't hesitate to reach out to them through your posts for inexpensive gift recommendations or even free places to stay for the night, experts suggest.
Follow the leaders
Of course, you can always take the passive approach and subscribe to one or two of the big coupon aggregators, such as @coupontweet or @couponlanding, to find deals. CouponTweet, with thousands of subscribers, sifts through all the Twitter posts and plucks out 10 to 15 deals a day to feature on its feed, says Christopher Hill, the founder of CouponTweet."These are the absolute best that we have found," Hill says.
You can also find your other favorite discount Web sites on Twitter, such as @fatwallet or @slickdeals, as well as accounts for special forums of these sites, like Fat Wallet's @freestuffrocks.
And you can find money-saving financial advice from your favorite personal-finance sites, including @msn_money, @smartspending and @kiplingermedia.
But just because users have a huge amount of followers, it doesn't mean they're going to dish out the best or most relevant deals, experts say. Look at the past week or so of their posts -- not their numbers of followers -- to judge whether they will have discounts or suggestions that are useful to you.
Follow your brands
Next, look for your favorite brands, from your go-to airline to your favorite purveyors of jeans, music or great meals.Almost all of these companies probably have Twitter accounts and are flagging deals and dishing out time-sensitive discounts to their loyal followers such as these:
- Burger Lounge, which runs three upscale grass-fed-burger joints in San Diego and has almost 2,000 Twitter followers, runs contests on Twitter for gift cards and dishes out buy-one, get-one and free-side-order coupons like this one: "@burger_lounge Come into any of our locations, mention following us on Twitter and get a free 1/2 onion ring, 1/2 fry. See you soon?"
- United Airlines offered these deals recently on its Twitter feed: "Big seats, big sale! 1st class: DEN-LAX $274, PHX-SFO $244, ORD-DEN $254. One-way, addtl taxes and terms @ http://tinyurl.com/l5orpk #travel."
- @southwestair flagged its four-day deal for $35 one-way flights in and out of Milwaukee.
- Hotel chains such as Holiday Inn and InterContinental Hotels have Twitter accounts for each property they own, dishing out deals on room nights.
- Computer company Dell posts exclusive coupons and deals in its @delloutlet that are limited to a small number of users, such as this one: "20% off any Outlet Inspiron 530 desktop priced $500+ (before tax & fees). Enter code VRQQMC22G6$DFN at checkout http://bit.ly/CbdNJ Exp 6/17 7:55 AM Jun 16th from web."
- Likewise, Amazon.com has a Twitter accounts for Mp3 music deals (@amazonmp3) and Gold Box deals (@amazondeals). They're time savers, because you don't have to navigate to its Web site unless you see something you really covet.
Shoestring's Massello also recommends sharing your bargain-loving pain and pleasures in posts to see whether your favorite retailers will respond. Many do.
A complaint about shipping costs in one of your updates, for example, could net you free shipping. It's a long shot, but it can't hurt. And some companies such as Comcast and JetBlue will take your customer-service complaints or questions through Twitter.
Find the tweet spot
But be warned: You don't want to pick too many companies to follow, or you'll wind up wading through corporate spam every day, just to see what your real friends are doing. To dump one of these companies, just click the follow button twice on their profile page to remove them.If you want to go brand-free use the search box to look for specific deals by keyword, such as "J. Crew" and "coupon" or "BOGO," for buy-one, get-one deals. Many seasoned Twitterers also use "#" marks to tag keywords. So you can try searching for deals by entering tags such as "#freebies" or "contests," as many Twitterers use contests to attract followers.
And if you find someone dishing out particularly good deals, look for their recommendations for other Twitterers to check out on Fridays. These other users' accounts are tagged #followfriday.
Twittering around town
And don't forget to follow some local tweet aggregators in your city if you want to find deals at restaurants, happy hours at bars, free concerts, cheap haircuts or just new, inexpensive places to shop.Search for people by your city name and look for users posting deals in your area, such as @BostonTweet and @NewYorkology, to find gems like this: "@Bostontweet: Free burritos today at the Natick @Boloco from 11am-8pm."
And if you really want to stay on top of the best bargains, download an application such as TweetDeck or Twittelator to catch them on the fly from your smart phone. That way you can search for deals, as you need them, such as when you are at your local mall looking for a deal on coffee, a new pair of shoes or that free lunch.
Lastly, CouponTweet's Hill says, if you find a good deal, be sure to pass it on, so others can take advantage of it, too. "Retweeting" is a big part of the culture of Twitter. Give credit to those passing on the deal with an "RT" and their user name, then simply cut and paste their post. Your friends will thank you.
"One of the most impressive things about Twitter is it's a real human search engine," Massello says. "You're not just searching static documents." People are on it all the time, checking their status updates and putting out messages so you can ask someone about a deal and get a response. "It's a real-life hack."